Del. Michael Feggans

Purchase, possession, sale, transfer, etc.,of assault firearms and certain ammunition feeding devices prohibited;penalty. Creates a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person who imports,sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses, transports, or transfersan assault firearm, as that term is defined in the bill, and prohibitsa person who has been convicted of such violation from purchasing,possessing, or transporting a firearm for a period of three yearsfrom the date of conviction. The bill provides that an assault firearmdoes not include any firearm that is an antique firearm, has been rendered permanently inoperable, is manually operated by bolt, pump,lever, or slide action, or was manufactured before July 1, 2024.The bill also prohibits the sale of a large capacity ammunition feedingdevice, as that term is defined in the bill. The bill provides thatany person who willfully and intentionally (i) sells an assault firearmto another person or (ii) purchases an assault firearm from anotherperson is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor and that any person whoimports, sells, barters, or transfers a large capacity ammunition feeding device is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill alsomakes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for any person younger than 21 yearsof age to import, sell, manufacture, purchase, possess, transport,or transfer an assault firearm regardless of the date of manufactureof such assault firearm.

Firearm industry members; standards of responsible conduct; civil liability. Creates standards of responsible conduct for firearm industry members and requires such members to establish and implement reasonable controls regarding the manufacture, sale, distribution, use, and marketing of the firearm industry member's firearm-related products, as those terms are defined in the bill. Such reasonable controls include reasonable procedures, safeguards, and business practices that are designed to (i) prevent the sale or distribution of a firearm-related product to a straw purchaser, a firearm trafficker, a person prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law, or a person who the firearm industry member has reasonable cause to believe is at substantial risk of using a firearm-related product to harm themselves or unlawfully harm another or of unlawfully possessing or using a firearm-related product; (ii) prevent the loss of a firearm-related product or theft of a firearm-related product from a firearm industry member; (iii) ensure that the firearm industry member complies with all provisions of state and federal law and does not otherwise promote the unlawful manufacture, sale, possession, marketing, or use of a firearm-related product; and (iv) ensure that the firearm industry member does not engage in an act or practice in violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act. The bill also provides that a firearm industry member may not knowingly or recklessly create, maintain, or contribute to a public nuisance, as defined in the bill, through the sale, manufacturing, importing, or marketing of a firearm-related product. The bill creates a civil cause of action for the Attorney General or a local county or city attorney to enforce the provisions of the bill or for any person who has been injured as a result of a firearm industry member's violation to seek an injunction and to recover costs and damages. This bill is identical to SB 491.

Equity in public school funding; student need; English language learner, special education, and at-risk students. Places several parameters on Standards of Quality funding calculations performed by the Department of Education, including (i) requiring the Department, when calculating the cost of salaries under the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include facilities staff and transportation staff salaries in the calculation of any cost of competing adjustment to salaries for instructional and support positions that is provided as part of the state share of basic aid pursuant to the general appropriation act; (ii) requiring the Department, when estimating the cost of any compensation supplement for instructional and support positions under the Standards of Quality funding formula, to include and estimate the cost of such a compensation supplement for facilities staff; (iii) prohibiting the Department from applying any cap on inflation rate adjustments to non-personal cost categories during the biennial process of rebenchmarking the direct aid to public education budget; and (iv) requiring the Department to utilize a three-year average of the most recently available data to calculate the composite index of local ability-to-pay for each school division. The bill also amends Standard of Quality 2 by (a) including in the definition of "support services position" any central office clerical position that is not otherwise set forth in such definition, (b) requiring a per-pupil Standards of Quality funding add-on to be provided for English language learner and special education students, (c) requiring, in addition to the positions supported by basic aid, state funding, pursuant to the general appropriation act, to be provided to cover the actual average school division cost to educate children with disabilities, and (d) establishing the At-Risk Program, defined in the bill as any state funding provided for programs of prevention, intervention, or remediation or pursuant to the at-risk add-on for the purpose of supporting programs for students who are educationally at risk. The bill requires (1) the determination of the amount of state funding for which a school division is eligible pursuant to such At-Risk Program to be based on the school division's identified student percentage, defined in the bill as the fraction, expressed as a percentage, that results from dividing the number of identified students enrolled in a school division by the total number of students enrolled in such school division, weighted by the factor of 1.5, and then adjusted by the addition of a percentage that corrects for undercounting English language learner students as identified students and (2) such funding to be distributed as follows: 60 percent on a flat per-student rate and 40 percent on a variable rate set out in the general appropriation act based on the concentration of poverty in the school division. The bill is a recommendation of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

Minimum wage; farm laborers or farm employees;temporary foreign workers. Eliminates the exemptions from Virginia'sminimum wage requirements for (i) persons employed as farm laborers or farm employees and (ii) certain temporary foreign workers. This bill incorporates HB 866.

Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund; projects; low-income geographic areas; nature-based solutions. Provides that the Department of Conservation and Recreation shall give additional weight to projects located in low-income geographic areas and projects that incorporate nature-based solutions when distributing loans or grants from the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund to particular local governments.

Registration of tobacco products retailers; purchase, possession, and sale of retail tobacco products; retail tobacco products and liquid nicotine tax; penalties. Prohibits any person from selling any retail tobacco product, as defined in the bill, at retail without first obtaining a permit from the Department of Taxation and prohibits such sale at a location within 1,000 feet of a youth-oriented facility, as defined in the bill. The bill prohibits Internet sales of retail tobacco products, except to a permit-holding retailer, and prohibits the sale of retail tobacco products from vending machines. Under the bill, permits are subject to annual renewal and subject to revocation for violations of federal, state, or local laws related to tobacco products. The bill imposes recordkeeping requirements and makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to engage in fraud or misrepresentation in connection with an application for a permit. The bill updates, for the purpose of the crime of selling or distributing tobacco products to a person younger than 21 years of age, the definition of "retail tobacco products" by including in such definition products currently defined as "nicotine vapor products" or "alternative nicotine vapor products." The bill also removes provisions prohibiting the attempt to purchase, the purchase, or the possession of tobacco products by persons younger than 21 years of age. The bill provides that the punishment of a retail establishment that sells, gives, or furnishes a tobacco product to a person younger than 21 years of age or to a person who does not demonstrate that such person is at least 21 years of age is (i) a civil penalty of $1,000 for a first offense, (ii) a civil penalty of $5,000 for a second offense and a 30 day suspension of such establishment's distributor's license, and (iii) a civil penalty of $10,000, revocation of such license, and such distributor shall be ineligible to hold a license for a period of three years following the most recent violation. Under current law, such penalties apply only to the sale, distribution, or purchase of a bidi and do not require a suspension or revocation of the establishment's distributor's license, while violations involving all other products are punishable by a civil penalty of $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense, and $500 for a third or subsequent offense. The bill also removes the exception allowing the sale, giving, or furnishing of any tobacco product, nicotine vapor product, or alternative nicotine vapor product to active-duty military personnel who are 18 years of age or older. The bill requires the Department, in collaboration with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority and local law enforcement, to conduct a compliance check every 24 months on any retailer selling retail tobacco products and to use a person younger than 21 years of age to conduct such checks. The bill also imposes a tax upon liquid nicotine in closed systems, as defined in the bill, at the rate of $0.066 per milliliter and upon liquid nicotine in open systems, as defined in the bill, at the rate of 20 percent of the wholesale price. The bill applies licensing requirements to manufacturers, distributors, and retail dealers of liquid nicotine and creates new safety requirements related to the advertising, marketing, and labeling of liquid nicotine and nicotine vapor products.

Contract actions; medical debt. Provides that in any action, including those brought by the Commonwealth, upon any contract to collect medical debt, as defined in the bill, such an action is barred if not commenced within three years from the due date applicable to the first invoice for a health care service unless the contract with a hospital or health care provider is for a payment plan that allows for a longer period of time for the collection of debt by the hospital or health care provider. The bill specifies that such limitation shall not apply to medical debt arising from services provided by programs administered by the Department of Medical Assistance Services.

Energy efficiency programs; incremental annualsavings. Provides that it is in the public interest and the policyof the Commonwealth to deploy demand-side management programs andenergy efficiency measures throughout the Commonwealth to achievethe greatest possible reductions in energy consumption. The billpermits the State Corporation Commission to increase or decreasean investor-owned electric utility's combined rate of return basedon the utility's success in complying with energy efficiency programtargets in existing law. Additionally, the bill states that "in thepublic interest" for the purpose of assessing energy efficiency programsmeans that the Commission determines that the program is cost-effective.Finally, the bill directs the Commission to promulgate regulationsno later than December 31, 2025, establishing a single, consistent cost-effectiveness test for use in evaluating proposed energy efficiency programs.

Teachers; certain licenses and certificates. Makes several changes to provisions of law relating to the licensure and certification of teachers, including (i) establishing universal licensure by reciprocity as a category of teacher licensure in the Commonwealth for certain licensed out-of-state teachers, regardless of the traditional or alternative nature of the education preparation programs that they completed; (ii) establishing and enumerating the criteria for a subject matter expert teaching certificate to provide high-quality teaching candidates who have relevant work experience or expertise in a content or subject matter area an accelerated path toward a renewable license; (iii) permitting the division superintendent rather than the Board of Education, as is current law, to issue a career and technical education teacher a provisional license to allow time for the teacher to attain the industry certification credential required by law; (iv) permitting any high school principal to waive, for any individual whom he seeks to employ as a career and technical education teacher and who is also seeking initial licensure or renewal of a license with an endorsement in the area of career and technical education, certain applicable licensure requirements; and (v) permitting any division superintendent to directly waive, rather than apply to the Department of Education for a biennial waiver as is required under current law, the teacher licensure requirements for any individual whom the local school board hires or seeks to hire to teach in a trade and industrial education program who has obtained or is working toward an industry credential relating to the program area and who has at least 4,000 hours of recent and relevant employment experience.

Virginia Public Procurement Act; Virginia resident preference. Provides preference as it relates to procurement for a bidder who is a resident of Virginia and then a bidder whose goods are produced in the United States. For the procurement of goods by manufacturers, when the lowest responsive and responsible bidder is not a resident of Virginia and the bid of any Virginia resident is within 10 percent of such bid, the bill gives the lowest responsive and responsible bidder that is a Virginia resident the option to match the price of the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. Furthermore, if the lowest responsive and responsible bidder is a resident of another state and such state allows a resident a percentage preference or price-matching preference for the procurement of goods, the bill grants a like preference to responsive and responsible bidders who are residents of Virginia. Under the bill, an eligible bidder that is a Virginia resident shall be granted the greater of either preference. The bill exempts a public body from the provisions of the bill if such public body is rendered ineligible to receive federal funding due to the provisions of the bill. The bill has an expiration date of July 1, 2027. Finally, the bill directs the Department of General Services to report to the General Assembly regarding the bill's efficacy, including any retaliatory action taken by other states, no later than the first day of the 2025 Regular Session.This bill incorporates HB 164, HB 341, and HB 1154.